Diamond Comp Help

[omaht56]

been using the diamond for a month now and i love it on my clean makes everything alive as been stated by many before me. The only thing ive noticed is that when i kick my ocd on my signal doesnt stand out as much anymore. Im having to turn my ocd way up from where it used to be before i had the compressor. it does this on my vox ac30 and my twin reverb. not sure whats going on here.
Any thoughts?

[gtrfinder]

Sounds like the compressor is doing its job just right to me. A comp levels out your signal taking out some of the peaks and valleys.
I assume you have the OCD after the compressor, right?

[omaht56]

yeah its right after the comp and yeah its absolutely doing its job but idk it just seems odd that i have to turn the ocd up to around 3 oclock to get my clean and overdrive to the same volume level.

[awallace]

Hi ohmaht56- I see your signal chain in your sig- have you always had the TU3 after the OCD? When the Compressor is bypassed, do you still need to turn your OCD volume up?

[omaht56]

not always it used to be first before i got the comp and i just couldnt figure out a way to fit everything properly with it after the comp.
once the comp is off i have to return the ocd to around 11 to get the volumes to match up again

[Muzzy]

Turn down the comp knob and your OD will stand out more. It sounds like you're over compressing it.

[omaht56]

thats what i thought too ill try that next practice. Where would you suggest to put the comp level?

[Structo]

How come you don't have the tuner first?

You may want to try the OCD before your comp.

[JacksonCarter]

i really like my ocd before my diamond comp...

[omaht56]

will the tuners placement effect the signal that much? even though when the comp is off i have no issues?

[omaht56]

@jacksoncarter thats another thing i should try. everyone else on the board seemed pretty adamant that your drives go after your comp which is why i had set my chain up this way in relation to comp and drive

[JacksonCarter]

i really thing the diamond sounds best if you set the comp and level knobs where the sum of the two settings is ten. for instance comp 5 and level 5. or comp 3 and level 7... this is a loose rule i use when setting mine... i use comp at 9 o clock and level at 3 o clock...

[awallace]

I would certainly try the Comp after as well to experiment, that will be slightly noisier but you may like the result better, the OCD will be seeing the full dynamic of your playing and should retain some of it's character. Compressor before OD can be a little too 'smooth' sometimes. Also, in my experience, the OCD can act funny in combination with certain buffers... I'd put the TU3 first or on a sidechain with an A/B box. Or just try removing it temporarily to see what happens.

[omaht56]

i was thinking about moving on from the ocd anyway does your advice go for any overdrive pedal?

[awallace]

i was thinking about moving on from the ocd anyway does your advice go for any overdrive pedal?

Compressor placement relative to overdrive pedals applies generally. Not all overdrives behave like the OCD in terms of buffer interactions though. Also, I haven't kept up on OCD revisions, it may be something they've changed over time.

[tech21nyc]

I have the Diamond comp( great pedal) on my pedal board. Used it yesterday on a live recording session. It works well with our pedals. In general I don't usually feel the need to use a comp with distortion but have never had any issues. I have a ver 1 OCD. I will try it with that.

The OP didn't mention his settings. The OCD has a fairly hefty output so there should really be no problem if level is the only issue. Did you gain stage everything for unity gain? With overdrive or compression it's fairly easy to "fool" yourself that you're at unity gain when in reality you have reduced the level of the straight guitar signal.

[vibrostrat43]

I would certainly try the Comp after as well to experiment, that will be slightly noisier but you may like the result better, the OCD will be seeing the full dynamic of your playing and should retain some of it's character. Compressor before OD can be a little too 'smooth' sometimes. Also, in my experience, the OCD can act funny in combination with certain buffers... I'd put the TU3 first or on a sidechain with an A/B box. Or just try removing it temporarily to see what happens.

I was going to mention this in reference to the OCD and it's nature with buffers. It has a really low output impedance that was designed to drive the front end of an amp really well, but it makes it prone to signal loss into lots of cabling, and it reacts differently than it was designed into other impedances. If you've always had your Boss tuner behind it though then I'd assume that it was Diamond pedal creating the problem and not the tuner. I wonder if the OCD has a low input impedance, because that could possibly cause the problem if the Diamond has a low output impedance too I believe.

[awallace]

I have the Diamond comp( great pedal) on my pedal board. Used it yesterday on a live recording session. It works well with our pedals. In general I don't usually feel the need to use a comp with distortion but have never had any issues. I have a ver 1 OCD. I will try it with that.

The OP didn't mention his settings. The OCD has a fairly hefty output so there should really be no problem if level is the only issue. Did you gain stage everything for unity gain? With overdrive or compression it's fairly easy to "fool" yourself that you're at unity gain when in reality you have reduced the level of the straight guitar signal.

Good point- unity can be deceiving when you're talking about compression and overdrive, What sounds like unity in isolation will often be too low once you drop into a band mix.

[omaht56]

Thanks for the advice everyone, i have a lot of fiddling to do with my chain. hopes its something simple like moving the tuner or turning the compression down haha

[omaht56]

Moved the tuner and the OCD and all is well. Thanks for the help everyone!

[Enjoyer]

I have both the Diamond Comp and an OCD (V1). My experience is that my OCD just doesn't play well with others. It now resides on the shelf. The Diamond Comp is not the culprit in my experience. Trade out the OCD for something else and it all works just fine for me. My personal experience on my rig.
Love the Diamond Comp.

[omaht56]

Yeah the OCD is definitely on its way off my board just dont know what else to try.

[choppy7]

Replace OCD with a Fetto !!! Best Marshall type drive I've heard.